Although a good sleeping comfort forms a significant contribution to the wellbeing of an individual, few sleeping systems offer optimum body support to the user. In a large number of sleeping systems, the user rests on a mattress which is supported by a slatted base. In order to offer the various body zones suitable support, various systems allow local adjustment of the resilient capacity of the slatted base. Thus, for example, the zone at the location of the hips can be made less resilient than the zone at the location of the torso. A number of such systems use pairs of slats which can be tensioned via a pair of sliding devices, as described in European patent application EP 0 919 163. Such sleeping systems have the drawback that they are set beforehand and any changes in the recumbent position of the user, for example from a lateral position to a dorsal position are not taken into consideration.
Other sleeping systems divide the pressure on the body of the user in a passive way, on account of the weight of the user. An example of such a system is a water bed. Although such sleeping systems adjust to the position of the user, they generally have the disadvantageous effect that the zone at the position of the hip will sink too low, thus compromising good body support.
Adaptive sleeping systems may provide a solution to these problems. Such systems can actively change the body support of an individual while they are sleeping in such a way that it satisfies the highest requirements regarding body support. Currently, there are only a limited number of such systems on offer. European patent EP 2 255 293 describes a sleeping system, in which, based on various measurements, a number of different zones in the system are controlled which are thus able to support the body in an optimum way. This is achieved via separately inflatable chambers. The control of the zones can be effected completely autonomously while the user is sleeping. Other systems are based on a plurality of pretensioned spring units.
However, due to their high complexity and cost, such adaptive systems are mainly used for analysing the sleeping behaviour of individuals and not as a sleeping system for daily use.